Aspects of the present invention are directed to a system and a method of testing operating system isolation using error injection.
Modern enterprise systems are employed by large entities, such as corporations and universities, small entities and individuals for computing services. In that way, the enterprise systems are formed of significant hardware resources and software, including an operating system, installed on the hardware. The hardware and software are then accessed and used by individuals on their own or within the entities for their computing needs.
Since computing services are so often integral to the proper functioning of individuals within the entities, uninterrupted availability of the enterprise systems that are being used by the entities is one of the key features in modern enterprise systems. Unfortunately, these systems still need to be brought down on occasion for maintenance. With that said, tools are available for mitigating the need for bringing down systems for maintenance purposes. These tools include dynamic software updates with which software used by the systems is updated without the systems on the whole having to be brought down although the software being updated must be restarted to incorporate any new changes.
For kernel modules that are system critical, however, it is understood that such kernel modules cannot be refreshed without causing systems failures. In these cases, dynamic software updates cannot be used.